Taking on the world

In the last two weeks there has been a lot of buzz about the University of Guelph. We were hailed as outstanding by our students in the Globe and Mail Survey on universities, we made the front of the Globe and Mail with the discoveries on the plant Mars, we were featured in the Globe and Mail Food Section for the fabulous meal for academic vice presidents across the country and we almost made a home game for the football play-offs for the first time in many, many years. And there is lots more. Many of our varsity teams have done remarkably well this year and we have some student learning experiences that are changing the way the world works. In many ways, the University of Guelph seems to be on the ascendant – our reputation nationally and internationally is increasing. It is hard to appreciate that we still have such significant challenges with infrastructure and support of personnel. But in the same way that we have always pulled together to solve every problem that we face, I am confident that we can do the same for our fiscal challenges. We have managed to forge our way to the top of the comprehensive group of universities and we lead universities in the way we engage our students, deliver our educational programs, link teaching and research and become involved in our local community and the global community beyond. With the new provincial government in Ontario and the already substantial commitment from that government to support the postsecondary system, it is exciting to imagine what we could do if we were able to invest in our infrastructure and our programs to create a really world-class institution.